Effortless
by Mirus Infidus
Summary: Akari discovers Hikaru's and Touya's relationship. It's been years since she and Hikaru were kids, though; it shouldn't bother her. Why, then, does it weigh so heavily on her mind? One-shot


3

The streets were icy and the air was chill. Dark clouds were ever-present overhead. Everyone walked with their hands in their pockets and wore their thickest coats. People were curled up under kotatsu, drinking hot tea, and trying to get the feeling back to their fingers.

It was winter once more in Tokyo.

A young woman was trotting to her mother's house, on break from her college studies. She looked fondly at the old neighborhood, recalling her childhood days. Not much had changed in the neighborhood since then. Her feet slapped the ground with the same squishing sound as water sloshed around in her socks as back then. She could still smell food cooking in some house or another. That black and gray cat was still hanging around the light post.

Taking in the neighborhood, she was transported back to her younger days, and saw her life as it was through her fourteen-year-old eyes. It was a week before high school entrance exams. She was stressed, and by that point had convinced herself that she wouldn't make it into a single school. She just wanted to give up and lie down.

But then she turned her head. Next door to her own house lived her childhood friend. For a moment she was jealous of him; he had become a professional Go player and didn't have to go to high school. Then she noticed, though, that the light was on in his bedroom. He was studying Go. All he ever had time for anymore was studying Go. He dedicated his life to it and worked hard. It was his determination that had inspired her to try her best and apply herself to her goals. She had made it into the second-best school in the city.

Bouncing back to her present self, she thought it would be nice to see her friend and his family again. On a whim, she swiveled her head towards his house as she approached. Just like that night seven years ago, the light was on in his room. He was home. It was almost nine PM, but she was filled with the desire to see him; she was rarely in the area and, according to her mother, he had moved out about a year ago and seldom came to visit. She would not get the chance to see him again for some time.

Walking towards his front gate, the young woman stopped when she saw her old friend. He was easy to recognize, despite all the time it'd been since she'd seen him—his bangs were still dyed blonde. He stood next to a young man with dark hair and the two seemed to be chatting with his mother, who stood in the open door, although the young woman couldn't make out what was being said. Her friend's mother bowed, and the dark-haired young man reciprocated. The door shut, his mother waving a friendly goodbye. No one seemed to have noticed the young woman.

Her friend took the hands of the other boy and said something, the dark-haired man nodding. He said something back and began to lean in, but her friend turned his head away. She saw him blush and mutter something. The other man shrugged and said something, and her friend laughed and looked back at him. It suddenly struck the young woman what she was seeing, and she became slightly embarrassed, turning from the gate and hiding behind the front wall, unsure of what else to do. She stood rooted in the spot for some time, until she heard a familiar voice say, "Akari-chan?"

Akari turned. Her friend and his partner were standing at the gate. "Hikaru-kun!"

Hikaru laughed. "I knew it was you, Akari! Long time no see. How's school going? Boring, right?"

Akari smiled. He still had that joking personality. "It's not boring!" she huffed.

Hikaru made a face. "That's only because you've got weird tastes." Akari rolled her eyes, but couldn't help chuckling. "Oh!" her friend exclaimed. "Akari-chan, this is Touya Akira. And Touya, this is Fujisaki Akari." He gestured to the man standing beside him.

Looking at the boy, Akari quickly bowed. "It's very nice to meet you, Touya-san."

"Likewise, Fujisaki-san," Akira replied, bowing.

Glancing back and forth between the two, Hikaru said, "So… Are you going to be here for long, Akari-chan?"

Akari straightened. "Oh! Um, well, I do have a break from school, so I'll be here for about a week." She laughed lightly. "But then it's back to the dorms to study!"

Rubbing his neck, Hikaru said, "Mm, sounds like my favorite pastime. I still get nightmares about having to take history tests. There's no way I could've survived three more years of it in high school."

"Oh, it wasn't as bad as you're making it out to be, Hikaru-kun," Akari chuckled. Then she stretched lazily and said, "But I'm not going to lie, it sure does feel good to finally have a break." Glancing at Touya, it hit her how impolite she was being, and tried to include him in the conversation: "How about you, Touya-san? Are you going to school right now?"

Shaking his head, Akira smiled politely and said, "I'm a Go pro, the same as Shindou."

Akari nodded. 'Ah, that must be how they met,' she thought.

A chill wind abruptly blew through the neighborhood, freezing Akari's bare calves and making Touya—who had thought to wear nothing more in terms of outerwear besides a light coat—shiver. Hikaru put his arm around the young man, giving him an 'I told you so,' look. "You want to borrow a jacket? I bet my mom held on to some of mine," he offered patronizingly.

Akira quickly shook his head. "No, that's fine." Another wind came, stronger than the last, and he tried to tough it out and keep from shivering. Hikaru, however, could feel the young man's arms shaking.

"Quit being so polite," he chided, "you're going to get sick. Now come on, let's go find you a better jacket." Nodding, Akira resigned and let Hikaru turn him around. Remembering the girl, Hikaru called over his shoulder, "Be right back, Akari-chan."

Akari shook her head. "I should get going; my mom's waiting for me." It was true her mother was waiting for her back at the house, but that wasn't the entire reason she decided it was time for her to leave. Mostly, she was cursing herself for not having worn pants, and her legs were freezing.

"Oh, all right. Nice seeing you." Hikaru waved.

"Nice seeing you, too. And it was nice to meet you, Touya-san."

Akira pulled his cold hands away from his mouth and said, "It was nice to meet you, too, Fujisaki-san. I hope we meet again soon."

The young woman skipped away. It was less than ten steps to her house, so she didn't skip far, and she waved one last time to her old friend before walking through the gate.

"Ah, Akari," her mother called from the living room when the young woman entered the house, "is that you?"

"Hi, Mom," was Akari's affirmation. As she was taking off her boots, her mother appeared with a welcoming smile.

"It's about time," she scolded playfully. "Did you bring what I asked for?"

"Mm-hm. Here they are." Akari reached into her pocket and produced a small cardboard box, which she handed to her mother.

"Oh, thank you so much," the older woman sighed. "It's silly, but I can't stand not having bandages in the house."

Her daughter smiled politely. "I know, Mom."

"Have you eaten? Are you hungry?" her mother quickly changed the subject to that which all overbearing parents periodically bring up with their children.

"Mom, I was only gone for twenty minutes. I didn't have time to get hungry." Akari moved to the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the conversation to end so she could go up to her room and put on her pajamas.

Nodding understandingly, her mother said, "Oh, of course, dear. But you know I worry about you getting enough food, especially with you away at school, always buried in those papers."

Akari shook her head emphatically. "Mom, I'm fine. Don't worry about me so much."

"But you're my only daughter, dear! Of course I worry." Akari smiled a little at her mother's good-hearted insistence, and began climbing the stairs.

"I think I'm going to take a shower," she announced, not turning back to her mother. In her room, the woman took off her coat and gathered her pajamas. She walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower, but didn't take off her clothes. Instead, she slumped down beside the door, the events of just minutes earlier weighing her mind down.

From what she had seen, she thought it was rather clear: Hikaru was gay. She still found it hard to get her head around, though. To be honest, back when they were younger she'd had a crush on the boy; when he became a Go pro and they stopped seeing each other, she had accepted that he didn't feel anything towards her.

_Was that because…?_

She shook the thought from her head. It didn't matter. It had been years since she'd even seen him; they'd both changed in that time, and there was nothing to be done about that. If Hikaru had a boyfriend, who was she to say anything?

Still, something in her heart snagged when she thought of the caring and concerned way Hikaru had looked at Touya. For the briefest of moments, the thought entered her head that she wanted Hikaru to look at her that way, until she forced it out. No, it was not possible. More than that, she had no reason to want anything like that from her childhood friend. She had grown up and moved past him.

Hadn't she?

If she had, then why did it make her so sad to see Hikaru with someone else? Why did it upset her to know that he could never be hers?

It had to be surprise. After such a long period of absence, the first time she saw him he was being affectionate with another man. She'd known nothing of this back when they were kids, so of course discovering something so large so suddenly would stick in her head. There was nothing more to think about, she just had to let the facts sink in and let the surprise fade away.

If she were just surprised, though, she shouldn't have to convince herself to believe it. It's the type of feeling that should be effortless.

Effortless, just like….

/3

**Author's Note: Akari and Akira, such similar names, my oh my…**

**Have Akari and Touya-kun met before? Not formally, they haven't. I don't think she went to the tournament in middle school, so there's no chance she'd recognize him from that… Well, either way, she doesn't remember him.**

**Hm, this left me unsatisfied. It was supposed to be a drabble, but it seems that it's a bit too long. Oh well, it still fits the plot basics of a drabble, no?**


End file.
